US adults who get the flu vaccine every year are 24.7% more likely to complete a primary COVID-19 vaccine regimen.
Muliple respiratory viruses are already straining health systems, with children among the hardest hit groups.
COVID-19 vaccination of children in Qatar was tied to low to modest, rapidly waning protection against infection with the Omicron variant, but teens had slightly more robust, longer-lasting immunity, suggests a study published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
The vaccine advisory group for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today approved changes to the child and adolescent immunization schedule, which adds COVID-19 vaccine to the recommended immunizations. The recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) passed on a unanimous 15-to-0 vote.
The survey also found that about a third feel confident about getting the flu shot and COVID booster at the same time.
The risk of a range of neurologic conditions rose significantly in the year after COVID-19 infection among a group of US veterans—regardless of whether they had required hospitalization, according to a study published yesterday in Nature Medicine.
Data from nearly 1 million Americans show an 8% to 11% higher rate of mostly mild systemic adverse events.
Flu activity is rising in some of the Southern Hemisphere's temperate countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa. At the global level, however, levels are declining following a March peak, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a global flu update that roughly covers the first half of June.
Other areas seeing rises are Chile and southern China, where H3N2 is the dominant strain.
Symptoms of long COVID are more frequently reported by women, those with poor overall health before the pandemic, and those aged 50 to 60, according to a new UK-based study in Nature Communications.
The study was based on results gathered from 6,907 people with self-reported COVID-19 from 10 population-based longitudinal health surveys in the United Kingdom that had been in place prior to the pandemic.
Maternal COVID vaccination during pregnancy provides 52% protection against COVID-19 hospitalization in infants but only 38% protection against Omicron hospitalization, according to a study yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Protection against an intensive care unit (ICU) stay, however, was 70%.